[WIP] Female base model project

[HorribleGoat 1473]

Greetings!

Id like to introduce a personal project of mine that I have wanted to start for a while now and finally today got around it. I call her the "Frankensteins Bride".
This is my take on a female character base for Arma 3 since it is something still not officially available and something I wanted to hone my skills with.

   

 The model is pieced together with the aid of Arma 2 civilian female models (hence the name) and rigged on a scaled down Arma 3 skeleton combined with complete facial skeleton and from initial testing the rig seems to work quite well. 
The head is modified from the Arma 3 sample head with more feminine form and even with a rugged man face texture loaned and slightly modified from "m_white_15" texture it does look somewhat like a woman.

The model is the same height that A2 women, about 166cm which is much shorter than the 180ish man characters in A3.

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So, my goal for this project is a working (and maybe even A2 animation compatible) character base that I can use in our mod projects and which upon the community could build on their own characters.

Next step is to finish the body mesh, UV map and texture it properly and test it with A2 animations and if the animations work, they could ease a little the process of fully animating the character. Which brings us to the last step of the project, the animations. Im hoping that when the project reaches this stage (and if we dont already have a official female characters by then) I might find some helping hands from our community to work the huge amount of animations needed for fully working character.

I have no estimate on how long this will take, but I'll keep this thread updated!

Picture Updates:

             

Progress update:

Animations seem to work on the new skeleton..

 

 

 

  

Story so far.. 

She arrives at Altis by sea, yet no one is there to greet her.. :C
  

Wonder why...

 

 

 

 

 

To-do:

+Finish body mesh
   *I think I've got everything on its right place.
 
+UV-Mapping
   *Have to see how it deforms, but 1st phase ready 
 
+Texturing
   *Started
   *Decent phase 1 texture ready for ingame test.
 
+Final mesh tweaks
   *Work in progress (probably for a while)

+Rigging the character
   *Preliminary testing shows no weird deformations. Adjustments will be applied if necessary.
 
+A2 animation test
   *MovesConfig port from A2 to A3 and updating it to new standards
   *Workaround for the changed A3 skeleton
   *New character class
 
+Simplified and properly LODd sample mesh for community use
   *As said I can't really invest enough time to recreate all equipment for female character, so I hope others can build on my work.
 
+Animating

   *Converting the Arma 3 man animations for the new smaller skeleton to provide working base animation set.
   *Creating the rest of the necessary animations to fully use the character armed and unarmed (If A2 animation port is successful, needs a lot less work)

[Alex150201 894]

I'll tag along with you, I wish you luck.

[HammerShield 19]

Hi,

 

That's a nice idea.

 

I can't help unfortunatly, but I support your idea.

And having female soldiers, at least !

[officeramr 269]

Will there be female civilians? I dont think the Republic of Stratis and Altis' population can survive much longer with 100% male inhabitants  :P

[Alex150201 894]

Will there be female civilians? I dont think the Republic of Stratis and Altis' population can survive much longer with 100% male inhabitants  :P

Hahaha you are so right!

[breech99 47]

For awhile there I was beginning to think the Greek islands were full of divorcee men and the women had run off with all of the furniture.  Glad to see this mod being made. I know women who play arma and they want a better avatar. The mission makers would like more options in the library to choose from civies too. Best of luck with making it.

[froggyluv 2135]

 Are you kidding women are so badly needed this mod should be called Operation Blue Balls. Any mission involving civilians or a supposed population just totally lose credibility immediately upon start.

 

 Good luck

[nomisum 129]

good luck! missing women is a major annoyance indeed - and i'd love to have those old civilian ladys back from A2 :rolleyes:

[piupau 11]

For awhile there I was beginning to think the Greek islands were full of divorcee men and the women had run off with all of the furniture.  Glad to see this mod being made. I know women who play arma and they want a better avatar. The mission makers would like more options in the library to choose from civies too. Best of luck with making it.

 

Nah, a neo-nazi party called Silver Sunset won the Greek elections at 2029 and those islands are dedicated for gay people.

 

 

 

By the way, did STALKERGB ever release his female soldiers on Arma 2? They looked quite cool:

 

[HorribleGoat 1473]

Thanks guys! I kinda thought that now that Tanoa is on the way with those lagoon beaches a female tourist would be in order. :D 

I supsect though that Tanoa beaches have to be enjoyed without my character for a while since I doubt it will be finished by then.

 

 

 

By the way, did STALKERGB ever release his female soldiers on Arma 2? They looked quite cool:

 

 

 

I dont really know, I think I have some version lying around somewhere in the archives, but cant say if it was ever finished. If I remember correctly she too may have used the default man skeleton and moves though. 

[HorribleGoat 1473]

Ever get that feeling when youre in the zone doing something and hours just fly by? Modding takes me there often and its fulfilling and exhausting at the same time.

Anyways. Got the base mesh UV mapped and painted on some preliminary skin texture to see how the model works:



There are details still missing and the all kinds of adjusting to be done, but for a first pass Im quite satisfied with it.

[Alex150201 894]

There we go! Nice! In the past I had a couple of scenario idea involving women but I couldn't do them because I lacked a female character in arma 3. Not anymore though!

[HorribleGoat 1473]

There we go! Nice! In the past I had a couple of scenario idea involving women but I couldn't do them because I lacked a female character in arma 3. Not anymore though!

Thanks! If the A2 animations work with the model and I get them ported to A3 at least unarmed female civilians will be possible in the near future. If not then theres "a bit" more waiting before the base model is fully operational.

 

[wordy-uksf 38]

Keep it up, it will diffidently add some variety to the game. 

[Alex150201 894]

Thanks! If the A2 animations work with the model and I get them ported to A3 at least unarmed female civilians will be possible in the near future. If not then theres "a bit" more waiting before the base model is fully operational.

 

Good things take time mate, dont rush.

[bravom5 2]

Nice! I think we definitely need female characters in ARMA 3, for both civilians and military. Since a lot of countries have female's in armed service.

[HorribleGoat 1473]

Good things take time mate, dont rush.

 

Yeah, no worries I got that part down.https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/187155-wip-female-base-model-project/:D Im quite sure that I will redo the texture a few times even after I've released it. But its all good practice.

 

Nice! I think we definitely need female characters in ARMA 3, for both civilians and military. Since a lot of countries have female's in armed service.

Im sure that when the base model is released and animations are done,  both armed and unarmed female characters will start popping out the bushes. 

There is quite an endeavor making new assets to fit the new body type. I doubt that the current vest are compatible with the slighter frame, though it remains to be tested.

[HorribleGoat 1473]

Got the texture in good enough state to continue with the project. It will probably need to be revised in the future, but for now it will suffice. Need to give her some hair too.

Also got her geared for Tanoa  (Joking..) but though this would be a little better than the black boxes. 

 

 

 From preliminary testing I need to adjust the skeleton a bit and work on the vertex weighting on the legs. There is some bad deforming going on, but thats quite easily solved.

 

[caboose816 38]

This is great! There definitely needs to be a female character model  in-game. Good work so far, can't wait to see the final product!

[HorribleGoat 1473]

Hair mesh and texture test.



For a first try Im quite satisfied how it turned out.

[ice_age0815 37]

not bad looks good i got them to work in arma3 and there work fine for me http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=550207481

[HorribleGoat 1473]

not bad looks good i got them to work in arma3 and there work fine for me http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=55020

Interesting! Animations might not be a problem after all! 

[ice_age0815 37]

took me a some time to get this to work 

[HorribleGoat 1473]

took me a some time to get this to work 

I dont doubt that :D Im familiar with the movescfg and it is a mindbogging swamp to go through.

May I ask have you used the A3 manskeleton or A2 womanskeleton or something else in your configs? I saw you had some screenshots with quite distorted fingers and such. Were those from just earlier tests and does distortion appear now?

And is there any custom animations involved or is it purely A2/A3 stuff? 

[ice_age0815 37]

at the moment i use A3 works better A2 one works to but hat some problem with the hands if you like to i can send you the model if that helps you